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Christianity

Exodus 17Water from the Rock and Amalek

Summary

Exodus 17 has two episodes at Rephidim. With no water, the people quarrel with Moses and ask whether the LORD is among them. God tells Moses to strike the rock at Horeb, water pours out, and the place is named Massah and Meribah, testing and strife. Then Amalek attacks. Joshua leads the fighting while Moses holds up his hands on a hill; when his arms tire, Aaron and Hur support them, and Israel prevails. Moses builds an altar called Jehovahnissi.

Key verse

“But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”

Exodus 17:12

Themes

  • Testing God
  • Provision
  • Shared Burden
  • Prayer and Struggle

Text

1

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

2

Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?

3

And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

4

And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

5

And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

6

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7

And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

8

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9

And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

10

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11

And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12

But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

13

And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14

And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

15

And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:

16

For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

  • Islam

    Surah Al-Baqarah (2): Twelve Springs

    Quran 2:60 says that when Moses asked for water, God told him to strike the rock with his staff and twelve springs gushed out, so that each tribe knew its drinking place. Quran 7:160 tells the same story.

  • Christianity

    1 Corinthians 10: That Rock Was Christ

    Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:4 that the Israelites drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ, a typological reading of this chapter.

  • Judaism

    Exodus 17 (JPS 1917): Remembering Amalek

    Exodus 17:8 to 16 is the Torah reading on the morning of Purim, because Haman in the Book of Esther is described as an Agagite, traditionally linked to Amalek.

Questions about Exodus 17

Who were the Amalekites?

Amalek was a nomadic people of the southern desert; Genesis 36:12 names Amalek as a grandson of Esau. Their unprovoked attack in Exodus 17 made them a lasting symbol of cruelty in Jewish tradition.

Why did Moses hold up his hands during the battle?

Exodus 17:11 says Israel prevailed while his hands were raised. The Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 3:8) explains that the people looked upward and turned their hearts to God, and Christians often read it as a picture of intercession.